”It’s always been a problem and on that has been on the rise” said District Attorney Ben Creekmore. He said it’s led to more prosecutions too, ”The amount of crimes that are being charged now is a lot greater than it was, say, ten years ago."

Narcotics officers in Northeast Mississippi tell us the problem continues to grow, getting more of their attention than ever.

They, and pharmacists like O’Bannon do everything they can to think of to slow it down, if not stop it, ”You really have to watch what you’re doing out there. We take a lot of steps, as far as calling physicians back to make sure. Verifying, making sure we have proper identification from patients and things like that.”

Not all the problem comes from obvious criminal activity.

O’Bannon says counterfeit prescriptions are a huge problem that only adds to his overall fight.